Of bottles, bikes and blind spots
With the Assembly election over, routine checks are back on Tenkasi roads, with police fining drunken and helmetless riders after a brief lull. But personnel from the Alangulam station raised a few eyebrows on Sunday. Stationed barely 20 metres from a recreation club bar accused of misusing its F2 licence to sell liquor to the public, they were seen stopping patrons as well as other motorists. The alleged seller, it appears, remained undisturbed. One inebriated biker, fleeing in the opposite direction, summed up the irony rather pointedly, remarking that the police seemed keener on catching consumers than curbing those selling illegally.
-Thinakaran Rajamani
A shout in place of answers
The day after polling, what ought to have been a routine visit to check security at a private college storing EVMs in Tiruchy took an unexpected turn when a sharp “Yeiii”, attributed to an IPS officer, set the tone. The officer alleged a photojournalist had breached the three-layer security cordon, a charge he firmly denied. As the situation spiralled, the officer’s remark became the flashpoint. The officer maintained a line had been crossed. Journalists insisted otherwise and called for CCTV footage. Press clubs condemned the episode, while social media split into camps. In the end, it was not the uniformed but revenue officials who offered apologies. For those on the ground, asking questions is the job. Being shouted down should not be part of it.
-Pearson Lenekar SR
When questions lost their edge
Long accused of partisanship, the media now finds company in influencers and YouTubers as scrutiny shifts online. The trigger was an influencers’ meet with Chief Minister M K Stalin ahead of the elections. What promised to be a no-holds-barred interaction soon appeared, to critics, a “softball session”, prompting questions over shifting loyalties. One influencer, however, offered a backstage account: invited for a policy-focused dialogue, he arrived with questions on startups but was steered to ask lighter questions, such as what was the CM’s ringtone and favourite apps. Attempts to leave were stalled by ‘protocol’. He later said the event was intended as a brief, informal breather for the CM.
Fighting his own fortress
On the campaign trail in Gobichettipalayam constituency in Erode district on April 23, K A Sengottaiyan, now with Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), paused briefly after running into familiar faces from the DMK near a polling booth on Pariyur Road. Noticing his tired appearance, a party functionary remarked on his weight loss. “Yes, I have lost about 7 kg during the campaign,” he replied. Having left the AIADMK, he now faces the unusual challenge of taking on both the DMK and his former party in a constituency he once held with ease, even as the base he built now tests his prospects.
-R Kirubakaran